Why You Should See A Star Is Born Before Listening to the Soundtrack

I, like everyone else with internet access, watched the trailer for A Star Is Born dozens of times when it was released in June. For months, that two minute and 24 second tease was shared and meme'd and replayed—the drama and those hooks delivering all the feels. Then, last week, the full version of the Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga song "Shallow" was released, which turned out to be not as much a song, but the two hooks from the trailer stitched into one song. It was still goddamn transcendent. But, the evening the full song was released, I played it on Spotify without the video, and had more of a "meh" response. This song, it felt, was supposed to be paired with the drama of the film. Without it, "Shallow" felt incomplete, and, well, shallow.

On Wednesday night, after months of buildup, I finally saw A Star Is Born. I can confidently tell you it mostly lives up to expectations—specifically, the first part of the movie and the build-up to when you first hear "Shallow" performed in the film. Even though I'd heard the song more times than I can remember, seeing it in the theater, paired with the narrative was like hearing it for the first time.

And today, as A Star Is Born hits theaters, the soundtrack has been released as well.

Here's my advice: See the movie before you listen to the soundtrack.

There's a number reasons for this, the least important of which is because the soundtrack is filled with spoilers for anyone unaware of this story that has been told and re-told throughout the last century.

More importantly, these songs are so brilliantly woven into the plot and emotional arc and themes of A Star Is Born that they are fundamentally incomplete without the storytelling of the film. Director Bradley Cooper gathered some of the greatest country, pop, and Americana songwriters in the business to craft an impressive list of tracks that tell the tragedy of Ally and Jackson Maine. It all begins when the two meet in a drag bar where Gaga is singing an absolutely stunning cover of "La Vie En Rose." Just hearing the song, I can picture the deep, romantic reds in the scene, their eyes meeting, Maine's eyes on the verge of tears, and his mouth hanging open.

The standouts of both the soundtrack and the film, however, are Lady Gaga's ballads. "Always Remember Us This Way" and "I'll Never Love Again" are enthralling on their own, but downright tearjerking knowing the movie. And, of course, the duets between Gaga and Cooper—"Shallow," "Music to My Eyes," "Diggin' My Grave," "I Don't Know What Love Is"—are fueled by the romance of the story. Their voices actually work well together, which is surprising given that Gaga is one of the greatest singers alive and Bradley Cooper is generally better known as the guy from The Hangover than a singer. He holds his own, too. While his songs are macho drunken Southern rock songs—again, part of his character—his own guitar ballad, "Maybe It's Time," is a thoughtful and beautiful existential meditation on mortality and missed chances.

However, anyone who hasn't seen the film might wonder why Gaga's pop song "Why Did You Do That?" is so blatantly awful. The beat sounds like something a teenager would make on GarageBand, and the lyrics are laughable: "Why do you look so good in those jeans / why did you come around me with an ass like that / this is not, not like me." But, within the context of the movie, it's supposed to be bad. Gaga's is a story of a young artist with raw talent who is transformed into a mass-produced commodity by the music industry. It takes her natural song and melody writing, and manipulates it into an industry tentpole product that sounds like a focus grouped synthesis of radio trends. Given that, the songwriters have created the perfect shitty pop hit.

As I often do with soundtracks like these, I don't as much listen to them simply for the music, I listen to transport me back to the experience of this cinematic journey. The music is good, but it's part of an entire package that deserves to be taken as a whole. So, go see A Star Is Born this weekend, then listen to the soundtrack to feel it again whenever you want.

Matt MillerCulture EditorMatt is the Culture Editor at Esquire where he covers music, movies, books, and TV—with an emphasis on all things Star Wars, Marvel, and Game of Thrones.

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